On the 12th Tommy and I will celebrate our 23rd wedding anniversary. I know it’s not a typical milestone number but I’m still excited to celebrate another year together. We’re going to the city to a Brazilian Steakhouse we visited a few years ago when we spent a tourist weekend in Manhattan. The waitstaff walks around with big skewers of cuts of every kind of meat imaginable and they slice it for you right on your plate. It’s all kinds of awesomeness.
Yesterday at work one of my fellow nurses mentioned that Tommy and I “beat the odds” staying married this long while having a special needs child. I don’t think we are anything amazing. I think we just did the best we could with the cards we were dealt. Even though Thomas is now an adult there are still challenges we face with him and there are some challenges that will never go away. I wish I had magic words to give other couples facing similar challenges but I don’t. I think raising a special needs child is so individual to the child and to that family. There are so many different combinations of families too. I’ve met mothers of students at work who have only that special needs child. Their perspective and parenting is way different than what Tommy and I faced together. I can’t imagine not having my girls as tough as it was with everyone growing up and out in different directions. And then we go and have a 4th, ha!
Tommy and I have been together since we were 17 years old. So all in all we’ve been a couple over 30 years. He’s still so very handsome with those great green eyes of his, the same eyes our kids have. It’s nothing short of amazing the way I think of my husband and how much I love him.
Here’s to year 23!!
Menay O; mom to 4, Christian and thrift shopper on the side... 